I like the idea of distracting Luke for a year or two with a McGuffin. Go for it.

I think the Empire would fracture very quickly with Vader and the Emperor dead. Weeks. Maybe 2 months, tops.

The Senate is gone. Pally-patine disbanded it in ANH. All power was put into the hands of the regional governors, aka Moffs and Grand Moffs. The Emperor encouraged rivalry among his subordinates. The Moffs all competed with each other for the Emperor's favor. Vader and the Emperor were the only central authority left. Without them, the Grand Moffs would be the only major authority left. They would fraction and fight over the spoils, like when Alexander the great died.

We call it the Imperial fleet, but it was Death Squadron at Endor, Vader's fleet assigned to him after the destruction of the first Death Star to hunt down the Rebel Alliance.

Wookieepedia Legends wrote:

Though Death Squadron initially consisted of only six ships—the Executor and five Star Destroyers—it earned a fearsome reputation as the personal armada of Darth Vader, who also had the authority to assign additional ships from other sectors as he saw fit.[3] By the Battle of Endor, Death Squadron had been reinforced to include the Executor, two battlecruisers, three Tector-class Star Destroyers, and thirty-three Imperial Star Destroyers.

That's 39 capital ships. An immense force. Most of it survived the battle of Endor. Most of the Empire's ships were in it's sector fleets. Each sector still had it's sector fleet and each system had it's planetary defenses. The Empire outgunned the New Republic by almost insurmountable numbers.

What if the Empire didn't fraction, if they had a leader who could keep the empire together than they would likely still be fighting a war with the New Republic at the time of TFA. Known space is vast, the New Republic would have a hard time gaining territory against the numerically superior Empire.

That would make for a great campaign. A serious military campaign against a united Empire, with a competent leader. Not brilliant, just competent. Good enough to keep the Empire together and fighting the New Republic. aA politician more than a warrior. Both sides balancing it's ships between offense and defense. Daring lightning strikes into the heart of the Empire, Commando raids, Starfighters acting as long range recon and ranger patrols.

While it might work for the Xmen, i don't really seeing that powerful of a device working in the SW galaxy..

Really? The way I read the Sense Force Potential, it barely holds a candle to what a Force "Cerebro" could do.

This device wouldn't require a specific target. A Jedi (or Sith) could scan an entire planet or even system for Force-sensitives, and even potentially gauge the strength of their potential. I would also allow it to bypass the downsides of using Sense Force Potential.

I can imagine a device like this in the hands of Vader or the Emperor, or Luke, who could want to find new students or simply keep a close watch on them...

I like the idea of distracting Luke for a year or two with a McGuffin. Go for it.

I think the Empire would fracture very quickly with Vader and the Emperor dead. Weeks. Maybe 2 months, tops.

I disagree it would have fractured that fast.

GlassJaw wrote:

This device wouldn't require a specific target. A Jedi (or Sith) could scan an entire planet or even system for Force-sensitives, and even potentially gauge the strength of their potential. I would also allow it to bypass the downsides of using Sense Force Potential.

I can imagine a device like this in the hands of Vader or the Emperor, or Luke, who could want to find new students or simply keep a close watch on them...

Hence i don't think it would fit, as you are in essence giving a possible galaxy wide/system wide scanning, with NO real downsides that SFP has.._________________Confuscious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

I like the idea of distracting Luke for a year or two with a McGuffin. Go for it.

I think the Empire would fracture very quickly with Vader and the Emperor dead. Weeks. Maybe 2 months, tops.

I disagree it would have fractured that fast.

Oh? So what do you think would hold the Empire together?

As a galactic entity it did fragment in a day.
As a military force, I would assume reasonably that admirals commanding millons ( a sector command is about 2500+ ships, 75% war ships and at least 2 dozen destroyers) did not just say Ahhh they killed Palpy...not the game is over and I have to quit and surrender.

I would argue that that given it is said it was years of mop up operations the empire remained a threat for what......a decade AFTER the old farts death

Did it? On the Lucas-tweaked RotJ movie, we see celebrations across the galaxy...on Endor, on Coruscant, on Bespin, on Tatooine.

But, did all those celebrations happen the same day? I would think not. They could have happened days, weeks, months, even a year or two after Endor.

I doubt every Imperial on Coruscant just gave up after hearing news of Endor.

This idea goes back to the earliest Star Wars stories. In the original Marvel comics (which I am currently reading), the defeat at Endor is devastating to the Empire. But, the Imperial Remnant still exists and controls some space.

In the old EU novels, this is true, even decades after Endor.

In the new movie timeline, the same is true. The fighting kept going until the Empire signed a surrender after Jakku, and even then, the Empire exists, retreated to the Unknown Regions (and over-come politically by the First Order, which is probably a nod to Germany after WWI and the rise of the Nazi Party).

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I would argue that that given it is said it was years of mop up operations the empire remained a threat for what......a decade AFTER the old farts death

Did it? On the Lucas-tweaked RotJ movie, we see celebrations across the galaxy...on Endor, on Coruscant, on Bespin, on Tatooine.

But, did all those celebrations happen the same day? I would think not. They could have happened days, weeks, months, even a year or two after Endor.

I doubt every Imperial on Coruscant just gave up after hearing news of Endor.

This idea goes back to the earliest Star Wars stories. In the original Marvel comics (which I am currently reading), the defeat at Endor is devastating to the Empire. But, the Imperial Remnant still exists and controls some space.

In the old EU novels, this is true, even decades after Endor.

In the new movie timeline, the same is true. The fighting kept going until the Empire signed a surrender after Jakku, and even then, the Empire exists, retreated to the Unknown Regions (and over-come politically by the First Order, which is probably a nod to Germany after WWI and the rise of the Nazi Party).

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I would argue that that given it is said it was years of mop up operations the empire remained a threat for what......a decade AFTER the old farts death

Sounds reasonable. And, it sounds like we're on the same page.

What I meant with the empire fragmenting as a galactic entity in on day was that it was this event that divided the remains of the empire, it is unlikely that operation cinder covered more than (some?) the most important "political" worlds. It is also unlikely that gallius rax had thousands of star destroyers alone over jakku.
I think it is the aftermath (bloodlines?) book that more than hints that the new republic had at lest 1/2 a decade of fighting against die hard imperial hold outs, we saw this after the clone wars too, in fact some of the first imperial campaigns were against seperatist hold outs.

Another aspect of the post endor era is the dark force users, it is canon that they did exist, and it is also canon that they were at jakku.
So where are they, what do they do, do they and they reasonably should and could and would command forces. Are these parts of the hold outs.
How powerful are they, did another self proclaimed sith arise only to be defeated by luke, or other force users now safe to throw their disguises...

the 2-3 decades between ROTJ ( and Jakku the next year in timeline) and the Force Awakens is a blank slate and could be whatever, it is even a longer timeline than the whole existence of the empire, even if you add in the cone wars you still come up almost a decade short.

I prefer the view that you DID have immediate factionalism post-ROTJ, but partially as a result of the Emperor's designs.

As of ANH, we know that regional governors became extremely powerful, with fiefdoms answerable only to Palpatine, and a separate military structure. With Palpatine gone as a linchpin, and his public heir apparent Vader also gone, you suddenly have a lot of people who are accountable to no one, and wielding vast political power. You also have a military that's lost a lot of its top echelons, and isn't particularly moored to any one particular governor.

SOME will attempt to reconstitute the Empire. Some of those military governors will decide "You know, *I* would make a pretty awesome emperor" and declare that they are. Some military factions will break off from the core of the fleet, and you'll have a period where the Imperial Remnants are a score of different factions, fighting each other as much as they fight the New Republic, and some, occasionally, deciding to jump to the New Republic for whatever reason.

If there hadn't been a New Republic, the Empire would've, eventually settled into an uneasy peace, with a few different factions slowly attempting to absorb each other. Throw in the New Republic, though, and you have a situation where a singular government can make strides to reduce the power of the Imperial Remnant over time._________________"I’m telling you, you’ll never have a deeper sleep than curled up in a Wookie’s lap."
“We're going to win this war, not by fighting what we hate, but saving what we love.”
http://rpgcrank.blogspot.com/

Another aspect of the post endor era is the dark force users, it is canon that they did exist, and it is also canon that they were at jakku.

Canon via what?? The cartoons?

I meant they were NOT at jakku, and thus could be around.
yes cartoons which are considered canon, and books as regards to hold out factions

What canon cartoons show dark force users in the post-Endor era? Forces of Destiny?

So far none, however the absence of them is not the same as them being dead, we have them pretty close up to the events of the original.
I would assume that their secretive nature have helped keep them hidden.